Industry Updates

KASI Star Brands - a new township consumer brand benchmark

17 Mar 2015

One of South Afrikas top market research companies is well known for their benchmark Ask Afrika ICON Brands, which are brands that are loved and bought by consumers across all socio-economic, cultural, racial, and other divides. This year Ask Afrika is launching a new benchmark, under their ICON Brands banner, KASI Star Brands, which are brands that are used most loyally by South Africas township consumers, irrespective of background or living standard.

South African township consumers have voted with their wallets and hearts and in the process created twenty four KASI Star Brands. Daily Sun and Ask Afrika and have partnered to bring you the KASI Star Brands of 2015/2016. An awards ceremony is being held at the Radisson Blue Gautrain Hotel on 19 March 2015.

Brands do more than just satisfy wants and needs, they become symbols and contribute to the way township consumers define their status and their personalities. These brands often become quintessential township brands and are closely linked with a sense of identity and belonging.

KASI Star Brands are brands that define a common experience, often on a daily basis to which South Africas township consumers are committed to in a real sense. The majority of these consumers put their money where their mouths are to demonstrate this commitment. KASI Star Brands are woven into the fabric of our vibrant South African townships, says Maria Petousis, TGI Director at Ask Afrika.

Township consumers make up a significant portion of our population and it is important for brand owners and marketers to identify which brands are used most loyally by this group across all age, income and language spectrums. In addition to identifying KASI Star Brands the survey by Ask Afrika also ranks brands, using the same methodology, in 163 product categories. Thousands of brands across hundreds of product categories were included in the initial analysis with only 24 brands emerging as KASI Star Brands.

A further 45 brands were awarded Platinum status, which means that their total KASI Star score was short of KASI Star levels. Not all categories had KASI Star Brands, as can be expected, given the vast differences in socio-economic levels and therefore the means to access certain products. Nonetheless, these category leaders often dominate their space and are star brands amongst those consumers that have access to these products.

KASI Star, Platinum and Category Winners

Ask Afrikas KASI Star Brands are a benchmark for CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, executives and marketers who are passionate about their township strategy, it is a metric that demonstrates marketing return on investment (ROI). These are the brands that have generated critical township mass in their categories and have built a high level of loyalty amongst township consumers at the same time.

Understanding the shoppers and the complex retail environment in townships is vital for marketers who want to successfully build their brands amongst this target group. However, not all brands have the goal of becoming KASI Star Brands, so it is important to benchmark the KASI Star score relative to the marketing strategy, and ultimately within the relevant target market and competitive set. Because the Ask Afrika Target Group Index (TGI) survey is designed to identify and understand target markets, it is possible to calculate KASI Star scores for the township consumer market. If your township marketing strategy is working, then you should have a good KASI Star score, says Petousis.

It is also critically important to be able to devise communication strategies so as to influence metrics like KASI Star Brands. The TGI survey provides this capability since extensive media consumption data is collected with the branded data. KASI Star scores were calculated based on different metrics for different product categories as loyalty metrics differ for different markets. For example repertoire and subscription markets are fundamentally different when we talk about consumer loyalty. A key feature of the methodology is that KASI Star brand scores were not aggregated across product or sub product categories.

Sub brands were also not aggregated and regarded as standalone brands in the category. This gives the survey a unique product category and sub brand focus. An aggregated KASI Star score can be calculated at a category or brand level should it be required. The KASI Star index is essentially a weighed usage and loyalty index calculated overall for South Africas township population.

The KASI Star Brand Survey by Ask Afrika is the largest of its kind in South African with 19 sectors, hundreds of product categories and thousands of brands included in the measurement. TGI employed an enumerated area sampling design and the universe includes all communities with more than 8 000 inhabitants, 15 years+. 15 000 consumers were surveyed representing over 23.3 million adult South African consumers; of which 6 763 consumers were surveyed from townships representing approximately 9.7 million adult South African consumers. TGIs data was weighted using the Statistics South Africas population estimates.

The Ask Afrika ICON Brands annual event that identifies South Africas quintessential brands, that are used across all demographics, from which the idea of KASI Star Brands originated, will be held in July.

About the Ask Afrika Group:Over a period of almost two decades, Ask Afrika Group has grown to be the largest independent South African market research company. The company focuses on local relevance, benchmarked against the global context. Ask Afrika is a member of WIN/Gallup International and ESOMAR. Apart from its large South African footprint, Ask Afrika Group also operates in a dozen African continental territories.

Ask Afrika Group is well known for delivering strategic and large scale field projects and for creating benchmarks for industry. With regards to service excellence Ask Afrika Group is the preferred research partner across industries to co-craft customer service strategies through meaningful research methodologies across the value chain and customer service touch points.

TGI research, for which Ask Afrika Group owns the South African copyright, has an annual single source sample of 15 000 locally and 800 000 globally. It has a global geographic coverage of 70 markets, and measures services, products, media, and brands. Ask Afrikas knowledge of brands is extensive and as owner of the local TGI license, it is the leader in brand expertise in South Africa. TGI can provide a commercial alternative to industry media measurements. It is the perfect vehicle for brand positioning.

The Ask Afrika Groups exclusive product suite includes the Ask Afrika Orange Index®, the Trust Barometer, Radio Moods, TGI (Target Group Index), Ask Afrika ICON Brands and TGI Township, the Digital Barometer, the Lite Data Collection, the Behavioural Sciences Package and Gateway. Ask Afrika is proud of its exceptional service delivery, with offices based in Pretoria and Stellenbosch. For more information please visit the website: www.askafrika.co.za